Endgame
by Murasaki Light
Summary: In the midst of a corporate battle with his greatest rival, Seto Kaiba finds that the key to his victory lies where he least expects it. Kaiba/OC


**Author Note: **I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I am only drawing inspiration from its world and claim no rights to the canon characters. All OCs are mine though.

**Endgame**

Chapter One

_Gambit_

The gray sky seemed to taunt those below with its indecision. Masses of clouds hovered above Domino City, Japan in a most uncharacteristically overcast April, though despite the warnings, rain had been absent for months. The city had eventually, without realization, grown accustomed to the odd weather and tuned it out, likely in hopes that the natural rhythm of life would remain undisturbed.

With a stoic expression upon his uncommonly handsome features, Seto Kaiba observed the world beyond the tinted windows of his limousine. Even with the usual activity in the ever-bustling streets, everything looked silent, felt silent. He had paid no initial attention to the trivial detail, but recently the stillness seemed to create an ironic agitation within him for he was a man who would much rather bear a storm than the calmness before it.

"Sir," spoke his driver as the vehicle came to a halt. "We've arrived."

After the driver made it around to his side and opened the door, he emerged from the vehicle with a silver briefcase in hand. A light breeze immediately fingered through his neat brown hair as he shifted his sharp gaze from the entrance to the golden letters above his head to verify his destination.

It must have been common knowledge by now that he rarely accepted meeting requests from strangers since he received so few, but for once the topic that was raised to his attention was of interest, having too conveniently plagued his subconscious for the past few months. The message his secretary had relayed to him had been short, almost as if the requester knew his patience had thinned as of late, but it took only one word in it to seal the deal before he found himself standing at the doorsteps of the designated meeting place. It was not as much curiosity, he decided, as an unnamed suspicion that moved him to act._ I'll find out if this is worth it soon enough, _he gave one last thought before finally entering.

A sweet aroma assaulted his senses once he was inside the coffeehouse, forcing him to take a second to adjust to the fragrance and the bronze-tinted lighting before he proceeded further to the back. He felt it was safe to assume the stranger he was about to meet would have the common sense to sit away from uninvited ears, given the highly confidential matter they planned to discuss.

"Mr. Kaiba," addressed a voice and his eyes aligned with the source. "I'm glad you could come."

The woman standing before him, though dressed in appropriate business attire, could have been even younger than him and was quite a distance from the expectation he had in mind. She was a tiny creature, barely reaching up to his shoulders, but seemed to make up for it in the way she matched his dark gaze boldly. Her simple features framed by short russet hair were not particularly striking, save for her vivid green eyes that seemed to speak even in silence.

"You are Sonoda?" he asked, arching a skeptical brow.

"Yukiru Sonoda," she said.

He grunted in acknowledgement. "I am interested in what you have to offer me but as my time is limited, I expect you to be succinct," he spoke coldly, taking a seat as she mirrored his action.

"Of course," she nodded.

Kaiba decided, with continued scrutiny, that it was too soon to let her naive appearance discredit her. The conviction with which she first spoke suggested that she must have had some level of confidence in what she was about to present, and if there existed any truth to her initial message, he wanted to know everything.

"You claim to have information regarding my rival Synchronous Corporation," he began, straight to the point.

Yukiru Sonoda paused, as if debating something for the briefest moment. "Yes. In relation to your company."

Kaiba's gaze followed her movements as she carefully retrieved a black portfolio folder from her side and offered it to him. Eying the folder, and then her, he reached out to accept it.

"What is this?"

"I thought about how I should present this to you, but it may be best for you to judge for yourself, Mr. Kaiba."

His piercing sapphire eyes left her to burn through the leather folder he held in his hand.

Yukiru remained silent, watching him with concealed suspense as he opened the item. It may have taken meeting the infamous CEO of the illustrious Kaiba Corporation to feel the full effect of his powerful presence, but she knew as much as the next person that Seto Kaiba was a force to be reckoned with. Now she was all but certain that the real person lived up to, if not surpassed, his reputation as the most feared yet respected businessman in Domino City. Purposefully crossing paths with him was equivalent to playing with fire, though, she reasoned, as long as he believed what she had to tell him, she would be one step closer to the truth. For that possibility alone, she could not run away.

"Where did you get this," Kaiba demanded suddenly and Yukiru's eyes lit up in startle.

"So you recognize the program?" she immediately said her first thought.

His frown deepened. "It bears a striking resemblance to the one I am writing," he said, his voice laced with suspicion as he scanned yet another page with increasing intensity.

_Maybe that's good enough. _"Take a look at the next page of the email screenshot."

Another silence passed. Yukiru suddenly felt troubled at how disturbingly calm he appeared on the surface – the kind of calm expected before a savage storm. Having read the content of the email before, she knew what he was beginning to understand and imagined the news would create an obvious effect, an explosive one even, but his demeanor made all reactions undetectable.

The reality quickly seeped into him. _Corporate espionage? _It would have seemed entirely unlikely given the lengths to which he went to ensure security within Kaiba Corp, but the email showed that one of his own employees had contacted Synchronous, stating that they had more pieces of information to offer. The very thought scorched him. From the looks of it this traitorous activity had been going on for a while now, right under his nose, and he hadn't even noticed.

Kaiba's icy blue gaze darted back to Yukiru. _Could she be lying? It would be easy to falsify the email, but the program…_It would take a near impossible coincidence to create a program of such similarity, despite both companies operating in the same virtual gaming realm. When Synchronous had launched its aggressive campaign at the beginning of the year, he already suspected something up their sleeve for it was an unexpected move, though one that demanded more than empty promises nonetheless. This could most definitely explain things.

Curiosity filtered through him and the resulting spark in his eyes would have sent shivers down his subordinates' spines. "Why are you divulging this information?"

She let her gaze wander off to the distance. "To be honest, it has less to do with your company than it does with the leaders of Synchronous."

_Oh? _Kaiba's blue orbs flickered in anticipation.

For a fleeting moment she seemed to surrender herself to her deepest thoughts, letting them lead her to a place where even the most perceptive observer could not hope to reach. Her green eyes glazed over at a darkened memory and she willed herself not to show emotion for Kaiba would certainly not empathize. "A month ago, on the news, there was a story about how a Synchronous executive named Rihito Minase committed suicide."

Kaiba searched his memory of the last month. He vaguely recalled the case. "What of it?"

She looked back at him. "He was my stepfather. I came across these files and some others in an external hard drive after the police closed their investigation. I believe Rihito must have had more, but his laptop was nowhere to be found. I'm still sifting through all the files on the USB since not all of it is relevant to this case." She paused, an unsettling feeling rising within her. "I wonder if you find it odd, Mr. Kaiba...that a man with incriminating evidence relating to a large conglomerate would conveniently commit suicide."

Kaiba quickly absorbed her words, his surprise well hidden as he narrowed his eyes. Her motive was both intriguing and unexpected. If her suspicions were true, perhaps his rival was more desperate than he thought. "That's quite an accusation," he said with growing interest.

"It isn't one," _yet. _"I only want to find out the truth, Mr. Kaiba," she returned evenly. "And I imagine you do too, for the sake of your company."

The dark chuckle escaped him without restraint. So she was finally being honest. "While I'm inclined to believe you, your evidence is incomplete at best."

"I know," Yukiru admitted begrudgingly. "Since you said the program isn't a direct match, there's no way to prove one was derived from the other based only on the parts we have here."

Unless there was more…unless she could find the actual program material sent straight from Kaiba Corp. But how? Without it, a similar program could prove nothing in a court of law. She laughed secretly at the thought. _Of law? I wouldn't dare hope. Laws can be bought. News can be censored. The Synchronous Empire will be forever innocent unless an equal power can prove it guilty. _Her fist clenched underneath the table and she tried to contain the fires of desperation in her heart. _I suppose I should consider myself lucky that they chose to target the one man whose power can challenge their own. _

"You're not expecting me to support your personal case against Synchronous, are you?" Kaiba cut into her thoughts.

She offered him a wry smile. "I'm not so naive to expect something like that. My problems are my own. But before I reach my final goal, ours happen to be the same. I do hope to find more solid evidence - at the very least clues that can point me in the right direction. I only thought that perhaps you would have a more efficient, wide-scale method of achieving the same results since it is your company, after all, that is under attack."

Kaiba leaned back with his arms crossed, watching her expression tell quite the intriguing story when the faintest hint of a challenging smirk settled on his features. "If your stepfather was a Synchronous executive, then that alone ensures he isn't exempt from suspicion. You could easily be wasting your time."

Her green eyes flashed like mirrors, unable to hide the spark of offense inside them. "If you do believe that, then it's only more reason to find out the truth, isn't it?" Yukiru responded as calmly as she could at his insinuation. "You have only everything to gain from investigating this, Mr. Kaiba…otherwise you will only keep on losing."

Her sharp words did not anger him for he had been prepared for any reaction. _So she really does believe Rihito Minase was silenced for trying to whistleblow on his own company. Her eyes can't lie. _The response he elicited had been genuine and it brought him to his final conclusion quickly. He would take matters into his own hands. "This isn't the first time my company has been under attack, so I am aware of what needs to be done to protect it," he stated, pushing the documents back towards her.

He glanced at the clock high on the wall, and she instantly understood what he meant. "Very well, then. If you need to contact me, your secretary has my information," she said softly.

To that, Kaiba only nodded, giving the papers and their deliverer one last glance before he left, far too preoccupied with this newly found knowledge to notice the beginnings of a light drizzle that awaited him outside.

* * *

An aged man stared impassively at the city beneath him through the floor length window of his office. His brown eyes were particularly dark in color, for they were nearly a deep black, yet they glistened all the more with intellect and acumen. The years had long worn away his youth, replacing it with fine lines and sunken cheeks, but they failed to erode imperious air.

"Depressing weather, isn't it, Itou?" he asked.

The addressed glanced out. "Yes, it would seem so," he agreed slowly. The other was silent, unmoving.

"Mr. Takamiya…you wanted to speak with me about something?" he reminded. As of late, his boss had seem particularly absentminded, and the subtle change filled Itou with a strange unease.

"Yes, come here," said the elder man and his gray-haired executive obeyed him as readily as he had done in the past fifteen years. "The topic we discussed last time. Give me your status report."

The VP bowed slightly next to where his boss was seated. "We've finished scanning all the files on Rihito Minase's laptop. On top of what we originally confirmed, it appeared that he had acquired more information than we estimated, so I have ordered his hard drive to be wiped clean."

There was a short silence. "Everything?"

"Yes," the subordinate confirmed.

"Did you find anything else of concern?"

"Not at this time."

Kousuke Takamiya was silent for a prolonged moment and his subordinate could sense the tension in the air. "It is a shame…that he left the way he did. I had high hopes for him in this new position. His background in programming would have led us far, quite far, if it weren't for his stubborn temperament."

Itou hovered uncertainly behind him. "…Yes, Minase was quiet, but he was surprisingly obstinate. Had I known he would go that far I never would have recommended him." His expression turned apologetic.

"I see no reason to blame yourself at this point," Takamiya waved him off. "He may have been a hindrance, but we have moved past him. Now we need to continue on as we originally planned."

Itou nodded. "I understand."

* * *

Three days had passed since Yukiru's meeting with Kaiba when his secretary left a voicemail on her cell, stating a time and the previous location in her brief message. Her mind was flooded with numerous possibilities even before the call ended, the most likely one being that Kaiba had already tracked down the person whose name was on the email. He had the means and the ability to do so, of that much she was sure, so she decided his speed of action should not have come as a surprise. The other half of her argued that had he found the culprit, he would finish the investigation on his own and the next time she would hear of it would be when it circulated over the Japanese national news. She wondered if it were really that simple, debating within herself even as she pulled open the glass door of her destination.

He never once looked up from his laptop even as she silently made her way over. "I see you received my message."

Yukiru cleared her throat to cover being caught off guard. _What a creepy ability. _"Yes," she answered before she once again felt the burn of his icy gaze upon her.

_She looks even more juvenile in this non-business attire_, he observed as he waited for her to situate herself.

"I searched the entire Kaiba Corporation database for the name on the email," he spoke when she looked up. "There wasn't a single match."

She blinked away her surprise. "You must have missed it."

"I don't 'miss' things," he corrected, his voice dipping at her bold comment as he narrowed his eyes.

Yukiru brushed it off, leaning back against the plush seat. "If that's the case…then it could be an alias. Since it wasn't a company email address, he could have used any name."

"That was what I suspected. It also means that one person has the potential of creating various accounts and disguising themselves that way."

Her brows remained knitted in thought. "And if they've stopped -"

"Unlikely. Kousuke Takamiya would go as far as he can in the event that he isn't caught in action. However, this is exactly why I want to avoid involving third parties."

"You think someone may tip him off?" she realized.

"Yes. Only a fool would assume the best case scenario when dealing with someone like Takamiya," he stated matter-of-factly.

With that she could not disagree. "Then what do you have in mind?"

He peered down at her, fingers intertwined as he leaned forward a fraction of an inch. "The snitch has to be someone within my programming team, someone with direct access to the program. I want them monitored, so if you can find suspicious activity from the inside, it will lead us both closer to the answer we want. In the mean time, continue your search through your personal files left by Minase. I find it difficult to imagine you won't get anywhere while tracing from both sides."

The urge to ask if he was serious nearly surfaced, but his humorless expression kept it at bay. "You want me to spy on your own department?" she asked incredulously.

"I think you'll find that there are very few options available to us at present," he said simply. "The fact remains that my every move is constantly scrutinized while you, on the other hand, can work undetected."

_Perhaps... _"But I just started my new job," she explained.

He suddenly looked amused. "I fail to see the problem, considering your current job isn't much to lose. Your computer science degree will be of much better use at Kaiba Corp."

Yukiru's eyes widened. _He searched me up?_

_You should have expected it, _he seemed to say. There might not have been anything on her file that was out of the ordinary, but he was nonetheless amused to discover that she was following in her stepfather's footsteps, almost as if everything was meant to fit together perfectly.

Yukiru fell into a prolonged mental debate. Though it was safe to assume it would be a programming job, what did she even know about identifying potential suspects? Was there even a strategy to it? _Then again...Seto Kaiba would never jeopardize his own company and it _would_ be best to narrow down the search first. But are his intentions as simple as he claims?_

Numerous thoughts fought each other in her mind but in the end she relented, finding it difficult to challenge the plan that he had already formulated with such little information. _As long as it brings me closer to the truth behind Rihito's death, I have no excuse to turn away. _Fearing that any more second-guessing would allow her to shrink away, she sealed any doubts deep within. "I'll assume you brought the papers," she said finally.

Pleased with her response, Kaiba took out a thin stack of forms from his briefcase before handing them to her. Her easy compliance came as no surprise to him considering the situation. If Yukiru Sonoda wanted to prove anyone guilty, she would have to play the part of the pawn to reach their mutual goal.

"Monday morning, eight o'clock sharp," he said. "Show up with it signed."

The words barely registered as her mind had drifted to another place. "…Your rival, Takamiya," she murmured. "If he is so bold to do this, he must have many connections protecting him just like you said."

Kaiba clasped his briefcase and stood as he locked eyes with emerald green. "So what if he does. Once they lead us to him, the old fool will learn what the consequences are for messing with my company."

_"_That I hope, but this could just be a game to him," Yukiru said, unaware of the truth behind her words.

In the dim light, Seto Kaiba's gaze seemed to gleam with a determination she had never seen in the eyes of any other.

"I don't mind games," he smirked cryptically. "For I tend to win."


End file.
